Welcome to March/April 2002 issue of Yoga Chicago Magazine!

Last fall, 48 anxious recipients from six countries and 24 U.S. states opened identical boxes containing binders, assignments, outlines, books and tapes. A psychotherapist in Sweden, a hotel operator in the Yukon, a stay-at-home mom in suburban Chicago, a Catholic nun...

Dr. Anita Ambardar has been sharing her love for yoga with her students at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) for the past five years. As a professor in the department of Teacher Education, Dr. Ambardar became aware that many students, though bright, lacked...

Yoga has long been a friend to John Friend. When he was eight his mother read him stories about yogis in the Himalayan Mountains who had supernatural powers. By the time he was 13, John was avidly studying the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads as well as practicing...

Over 20 hours after leaving JFK, Bob Eisen (the former-Chicago improv dancer) and I finally made it to India! Our luggage, however, was not so lucky. After nearly missing our connection in Frankfurt and spending an extra 1.5 hours at the Bangalore airport (going...

This article is about my experiences in a publicly funded Special Ed classroom. Due to privacy and legal restrictions, the name and location of the school is withheld. In addition, the names of the students have been changed as have some of their conditions. It didn't...

Meditation has changed millions of people's lives for the better, and has been doing so for centuries. It can transform your life, enabling you to experience greater degrees of happiness and abundance than you have ever known before. It can relieve your suffering from...

Despite its very ancient origins, yoga has experienced an explosion of popularity in America in the last few decades. Literally millions of people have tried yoga to different degrees. Famous celebrities like Madonna, Carlos Santana, Sting and even Chelsea Clinton are...

The word mudra means seal. It has a number of different connotations in yoga, including the bandhas (locks) and meditation practices; however, mudras are most commonly associated with hand gestures. The fingers are related to different types of energies, and when they...

I walk into the classroom with ease and comfort within my body. The room has a glow of things to come. I am early before any students arrive. I spend some time in silent meditation. As students begin to enter the room, I greet them with joy and full awareness, still...

Everything is changing constantly. We call this evolution. Evolution is brought about by time. Time, as it progresses, reveals many hidden secrets about knowledge and the material universe. What was once unknown is known now. What is unknown now will be known someday...

Q: Am I deluded in thinking that my meditating for world peace is making a difference? If you feel it is important to do something, then do it. In so doing, you will discover many important things regarding yourself and your subconscious mind. In meditating for world...

A miracle happens each spring. One day the land is barren and gray and the next it's bathed in sunshine, with jonquils poking out of the ground and tree buds bursting forth. As the sun's energy expands, warms and reawakens the dormant parts of nature, there is a...

For health and food, For love and friends, For everything Thy goodness send, Father in Heaven, We thank Thee. --Ralph Waldo Emerson Waylon Jennings died today. Quietly. I thought about his passing and remembered the liquid warmth of his gorgeous voice and how needy I...

The physical universe is derived from three powers: energy, light and matter. Energy works through the air element, light works through fire, and matter is dominated by water. When these factors are imbued with prana, or life force, the three doshas (vata, pitta and...

"White Tantric Yoga is like climbing a mountain in the mind, it is at times challenging, but the reward is the lingering feeling of strength, personal power, and sweet triumph." --Susan Pannie-Cass For nearly two-thirds of the participants gathered from six Midwest...

Ashtanga Yoga: The Definitive Step-by-Step Guide to Dynamic Yoga By John Scott (Gaia, $18.95) Reviewed by Cara Jepsen John Scott has a way of turning a phrase that's reminiscent of wordsmith-philosopher Richard Freeman, only he's a bit easier to follow. Case in point:...